


Sins of the Parents

by CosmicEclipse



Series: Persona 5 shorts [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Anger, Angst, Comfort, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 11:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicEclipse/pseuds/CosmicEclipse
Summary: The Phantom Thieves are at Akira's for a relaxing night of chilling out. The group notices something off with Akira and look into it. They discover their friend had it harder than they first thought.





	Sins of the Parents

**Author's Note:**

> So this is kind of a prequel to An Emotional Night and still part of that P5 fic I'm never going to finish. I think I wrote this before that one, though. This note is just kind of to explain that Akira in this scenario had basically no support during the trial and until he met Ryuji, so he's been stewing in a lot of anger at the world in general. He lost everything over a lie and had to just watch his world crumble around him.
> 
> His parents were the type of people who care more how people see them, so they were horrible to him because he ruined that image, as mentioned in An Emotional Night. He's rightly angry at them, but here he lets his anger get the better of him and lashes out in the worst way. His parents are remorseful, but he doesn't really want to hear it because he's still angry almost a year later.
> 
> Of course his friends are helping him through things, but it's the type of anger you can't really let go of so easily. So if you thought the rant went overboard, this is why. He's angry at them and let it get the better of him in this scene.
> 
> Also, I made him a drummer cause why not. And Hifumi is a Phantom Thief in this cause I like the idea of her being one and am sad they scrapped the idea.

The Phantom Thieves were all in Akira’s room. Haru and Makoto were sitting on the couch talking, forcing Ryuji and and Futaba to sit on the floor while playing Akira’s console. They were in a heated match of some racing game he’d found while in Akihabara. Hifumi and Yusuke were playing a game of Shogi that the former was taking far more seriously than the later. Morgana was sleeping next to Ann, who was lying on Akira’s bed like she belonged there. Akira was on his drum kit, trying to get the pattern for a chart he’d picked up online. Makoto would sometimes glance over at him while he practiced, seemingly lost in how focused he was on getting the song right. Haru had to snap her out of it a few times.

“Dude, that sounds like a super complicated song. Where’d you pick it up?”

“Something I found online. I could only find one or two videos of people playing it, and they struggled, so I thought I would be a fun chart to try out. It’s not really that it’s complicated, just that the pattern is difficult to do consistently for how long it needs you too.”

“How long is it?” Ann asked.

“About a minute and a half. Then it gets to a different pattern that I’m not even sure I can do at that speed.”

“I know I’ve seen you play harder.”

He was about to start back up again when his phone rang. He looked at the screen with what a few of the others saw was an obvious look of disgust. “Actually I think I’m going to take a break. Grab a snack. You guys want anything? It’s on me if you answer within the next five seconds after this sentence ends.”

“POCKY!” Futaba shouted.

“I’ll have some chips please.” Yusuke said.

“Ah! Aahh! Chocolate!” Ann screamed right as Akira made a buzzer sound denoting the cut off for free food.

“Alright, I got Pocky for our scanner, chips for out painter, and chocolate for our model.”

“Yup!” The girls said.

“Please.” Yusuke said.

“Alright. I’ll be back in a bit. Ann, could you put my phone on the charger?”

“Yeah.” She said as she grabbed his phone from him and connected the charger.

The group was oddly silent as he made his way down the stairs. They didn’t speak until they heard the bell of the shop ring.

“So it wasn’t just me that saw that look he gave his phone right?” Ann said.

“I’ve only ever seen him give that look to enemies.” Makoto said.

“Maybe it’s some annoying telemarketer or something.” Ryuji said.

“He would’ve just blocked them. We all know he’s not shy in showing people he doesn’t like them.” The group nodded and hummed in agreement at that.

“It’s an unlisted number that seems to call him all the time. Like, There are at least twelve missed calls from this number in the last four days alone.” Ann said.

“It could be he’s not blocking them as some form of annoying the person.” Hifumi said.

“He’s not that… No, he’s definitely that petty.”

“Yes!” Futaba shouted and threw her arms in the air.

“How?!” Ryuji shouted then sighed.

“Maybe he’s ignoring it because it’s someone he doesn’t want to talk to.” Haru offered.

“Maybe calling them to tell them to leave him alone could work.” Ann said.

“Maybe. But he’d be upset we even looked through his phone. It must be something private that he doesn’t want to talk about.” Makoto said.

“But he promised us no secrets. He said he’d always tell us something was wrong, so this shouldn’t be any different.”

“I don’t know. I feel like this isn’t the best idea.” Futaba said.

“I agree. We shouldn’t do this.” Yusuke said.

“Did hell just freeze over? You know it’s bad when those two agree.” Ryuji said.

“Hey!” The two shouted.

“I agree with you, Ann. Call it. It couldn’t hurt him any worse than it already seems to be.” Hifumi said.

“I’m going to do it.” Ann said as she pressed the call button.

The room was silent as the phone rang. The seconds passed like hours before Ann heard the sound of someone picking up the phone.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end was small but aged. It reminded her of a tired mother.

“Hey,” Ann put on the harshest tone she could, “You need to stop calling our friend. You’re getting on his nerves with how often you call. Stop it!”

“… Who is this?”

“Who are you?”

“Are you a friend of Akira’s?”

“… You know Akira?” Ann asked, causing everyone to look at her in shock.

“He’s my son. I’m so glad he has friends who worry about him. How is he doing? Is he eating right? He never answers any of my calls or he’s at work.”

“You’re Akira’s mom?” Ann was so shocked she had to say it out loud to make sure she heard that right.

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible! He said his parents were dead!” Ryuji shouted.

“You’re lying! Akira told us his parents died!” Ann said into the phone.

“… He’s been telling people we’re dead?” She sounded like she was ready to cry.

“Ohmygosh! Are you really his mother?”

“Yes!” She said, voice shaking.

“Oh no…”

“Why would he lie about something like that?” Makoto asked.

“He must not have got along with them.” Hifumi said.

“Enough to tell everyone his parents were dead and deal with more rumors about him than were already going around?” Ann asked.

“I mean, people were already talking about him, so it didn’t really matter if the rumors got more out of control than they were.” Ryuji said.

“Still! That’s insane! How could he hate them enough to tell people they’re dead? And for so long? You’d think he’d come clean about it at some point.” Makoto said.

“We all know the guy can hold a grudge if he wants. And he’s normally a really chill guy, so I wouldn’t be surprised if everything stemmed from his parents.” Ryuji said.

“She sounds like she’s in tears!” Ann said.

“Should we talk to him about it?” Hifumi asked.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Haru said.

“It’s a terrible idea.” Ryuji said.

“If he wanted to talk about it with us he would have already.” Futaba said.

The group instantly went quiet when they heard the sound of the shop bell ring. They all stumbled over themselves in panic for a few seconds.

“I’ll put it in speaker phone so you can hear this. Stay quiet.” Ann whispered before putting the phone face down on his bed.

“Sorry that took so long. They didn’t have Pocky or what I wanted in the vending machine so I had to go to the store, but the one here was closed so I had to find a different one. It was a real pain, but I got everything.” Akira said as he walked up the stairs, a plastic bag in one hand and a Popsicle in his mouth. He stopped at with one foot on the top step when he saw everyone was staring at him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Haru said.

“Akira, what happened to your parents?” Makoto asked.

Akira cocked an eyebrow at the question. It was weird and out of place. “They died.” He said simply as he moved into the room and put the bag on the table next to the Shogi board.

“How?”

“Car crash. About a year ago.” He said, remembering that’s what he’d decided the story would be.

“Really?” Ann asked.

“Yeah, why are you…” He stopped and pushed his glasses up to rub his eyes. “You looked at my phone didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Your mom answered.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Why not? You’ve been telling us they were dead for months. What did they do?” Makoto said.

“They are dead.” Akira sighed. “They’re dead to me.”

“Akira, you should talk to them. Your mom sounded really distressed.” Ann said

“Good!” Akira snapped, shocking the group.

“Dude…” Ryuji said.

“No, you don’t get to try to lecture me on this! You have no idea what they were like during the trial. Before that I was Mr. Goody two shoes. Their perfect angel. I always did as they asked, always got perfect grades, always put up with their plastic doll house bullshit so we looked like the perfect family! And how do they repay me? Complete lack of faith!” Akira shouted, causing a few of the girls to wince.

“‘We always told you to mind your own business! We’re getting sued because of you, you little brat!’ My father shouted as he threw me to the ground after I got home from the police station. Like this was a common occurrence. They refused to even believe a word I said on the matter. All the way up until I left they treated me like I was the worst possible person they could have raised. If they weren’t outright ignoring me, they spent all their time belittling me or making snide comments about the situation. ‘Don’t hit anyone at school today, Akira’! ‘Can you tenderize this meat for me, I just know how you love to hit things Akira’! ‘We replaced your drums with a punching bag so you can hit something whenever you want, Akira’! That last one confused me just as much as it angered me.

“And it was always ‘Akira’! Never ‘son, or ‘sweetie’ like before. Just Akira. They treated me like a stranger for months! Like I was plague upon their household! I was okay with all my friends turning on me. I was prepared for it. I was expecting it. But not them. They turned on me the fastest! Cast me out to the fucking wolves first chance they got, and they want to call me up and beg for forgiveness? No! That’s not how this works! They were vicious even the day I left! You refuse to believe a word I say for months, but the woman who lied on the stand shows up to apologize after the fact and suddenly you’re remorseful? Fuck them! Fuck you! You hear me Shouko?! I know you’re still on the line! Both of you can fucking drown in your grief! I hope it fucking eats you up inside! I hope it keeps you awake at night! And stop calling me! I don’t want to hear either of your voices or even think about you until it’s time for me to head back to that hellhole you call a home!” Akira finished his rant with heavy breathing.

The group was silent for a while as a soft weeping could be heard from his phone before the line went dead. He seemed to calm down in those few seconds as the group stared at him in shock. They’d never seen him like this before. This was the most of any emotion he’d showed them since they met. No one was sure what to say. What to do. Whether to try and comfort him or get at him for making his mother cry. No one got a chance to do anything as he stood up straight and wiped his eyes.

“I’m going out for a bit.” He said as he walked back down the stairs.

Makoto opened her mouth to speak but quickly shut it as they heard a loud scream of “FUCK” As the front door opened and slammed shut.

“Maybe… We shouldn’t have brought it up.” Makoto said.

“You think?” Morgana asked, having been awoken by Akira’s shouting.

“Did you know his parents weren’t dead?” Ann asked.

“Of course I knew. I live with him. He asked me not to talk about it because he has some serious problems with his parents.”

“I think that’s apparent now.”

“The real problem is how he’s going to act after this. He doesn’t have a lock on his phone because it’s always on his person unless he’s with you guys. This was a massive breach of trust, and he might go back to how he was when he got here.”

“I don’t think he’d do that. He told me he’s feeling better since he got all of us. He’ll be upset, but I don’t think he’d revert back to his ‘Everyone can go fuck themselves’ policy. I don’t think he really took that policy seriously since he helped me out the first time we met.” Ryuji said.

“In the castle.” Ann said.

“Yeah. I don’t know what he heard, but his answer was ‘It wasn’t’. So I’m guessing Arsene asked him if he made a mistake when he helped that woman.”  
“We should apologize.” Yusuke said.

“We don’t know when he’ll be back tonight.” Hifumi said.

“And it’s not like you can all stay here.” Morgana said.

“There’s also a chance he doesn’t come back tonight. He might be angry enough to just go over to his girl… Forget I said that.” Ryuji stopped.

“Ryuji, you’re actually an idiot.”

“Shut up, cat.”

“I’m a HUMAN!” Morgana stood up as he shouted, his black fur standing up straight as he looked poised to attack.

“He’s dating someone?” Makoto asked, her voice was low and sad.

“I think so.” Ryuji sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but I guess enough shit has been said tonight for it to not matter.”

“I don’t think you should tell them about that conversation.” Yusuke said.

“You knew too?!” Futaba shouted.

“All the guys knew.” Morgana said.

“Why?!” Ann stood up.

“Because it’s not the kind of things we can talk about with girls around. Can’t rightly talk about girls in front of girls.” Ryuji said.

“So when did he start dating this girl? Who is she?” Haru asked.

“Wow. I did not expect her to want to know.” Morgana said.

“Spill!” Haru said.

“We don’t know.” Yusuke said quickly, clearly intimidated by the small yet clearly insane girl.

“He said he’d been seeing this girl and that being with her made him feel like he had feelings again.” Ryuji said.

“Are you saying he said he doesn’t have feelings?” Hifumi asked.

“That’s what we asked. He clarified that he had just sort of shut them off because it was easier to get through a day if he didn’t care about what other people said or did. He said it got to the point where that was just his default state of being. Pure apathy and disdain for others.” Morgana explained.

“He’s pretty fucked up.”

“His response to that would probably be ‘It’s not my fault humans are trash’. At least it would’ve been at some point. I’m not too sure how he feels about other people now.” Ryuji said.

“So what I’m taking from this is that he’s especially angry with us because we’re pretty much the exception to his rule.” Ann said.

“Bingo.”

“Shut up, Ryuji!” Morgana said after seeing how sad Ann looked.

“Now I just feel worse for bringing it up.” Ann sighed.

“He’ll talk to us when he’s ready. It’s getting pretty late, so we should probably go. Are you staying, Futaba?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah. Sojiro is probably already asleep and I left my key at home.” The small orange haired girl said.

“Goodnight.” Everyone said as they made their way down the stairs.

“Bye.” Futaba said, waving Morgana’s paw for him.

“Stop that!” Morgana said.

———

Akira stormed into Tae’s infirmary waiting room and sat down without a word. The metal blasting over the speakers actually helped calm him down instead of freak him out for once. He didn’t bother to look over at the help desk she usually sat at, and instead closed his eyes and sat back against the blue chairs. The music stopped, but he didn’t pay it any mind and sat there and let himself relax.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Tae asked, having finally come back from wherever she was in the back, probably doing inventory when the music stopped.

“Oh, hey.” He looked over at her, his eyes drawn to the small cactus he’d gotten her before looking over at her.

“What’s wrong? Need more condoms? Want to do a test? Need some pills?” She shot non serious questions at him with a serious look.

“… I’ve never asked you for condoms.” Akira said.

“Which means you’re paying for them. I can give you some for free. Just ask. I’d rather have you in here for condoms than pregnancy tests.”

“I’m not...” He sighed and didn’t finish the answer.

“In all seriousness, what’s wrong, Akira? Is my little guinea pig having girl problems?” She walked into the waiting room and sat down next to him, crossing one knee over the other.

“My friends brought up something I really didn’t want to talk about.”

“Oh? What was it?”

“I’ll only tell you if you promise not to freak out.”

“I promise.”

“My parents aren’t dead.”

Tae was quiet at the news. She’d asked about them once before, and he told her they’d died in a car crash. Now he was saying they’re not dead.

“I take it they did something to make you upset enough to say they’re dead.”

“It was the way they treated me all the way till my coming here. Acting like I was always some problem child because some asshole decided to sue me and blackmail a woman into lying for him. I didn’t even touch him is the funny part. He was so drunk he fell and somehow that’s my fault? But no, I’m enemy number one for what I did. I’m treated like a plague because I decide to help someone. And the chick who lied came to apologize because I guess she felt guilty and now my parents want to apologize for how horrible they’ve been. I don’t want to think about them, so I’ve been ignoring their calls for the last few months.”

“That’s deep.” Tae said. She didn’t really know what to say to that. She knew how he ended up in Tokyo but not why he was so abrasive. Now she knew and she almost felt he was justified. “Listen, I’m not going to say I know best about anything like this, but, maybe, you should let go and try to give them another chance.”

“I considered it. The first time I saw the house number pop up on my phone I considered answering it. Then all the memories came flooding back and the wound was fresh again. I no longer wanted to talk to them. Who knows, maybe I’ll be willing to forgive them by the time I’m supposed to head back there.”

“You know hatred does more damage to the person holding it than the person it’s directed at.”

“If you’re implying I turned out this way because of hatred, you’d only be half right. It’s more that it was easier to operate with people avoiding you or spreading ridiculous rumors when they just don’t mean anything to you.”

“You shut yourself off as a defense mechanism.”

“Yeah.”

Tae was silent. She wasn’t a psychologist. Mental health was the opposite end of the health spectrum. But she didn’t want to just leave him be. So she did what she thought she might want someone to do for her in a situation like this; she hugged him.

Akira was surprised at first, but gave in after a few seconds and hugged her tightly. She pulled away after a while and he was a bit surprised he felt better.

“Feel better?”

“You know, I think I do. Thanks, Tae.”

“It’s Dr. Takemi. But I’ll allow it for now. It’s getting late, so you should head back home for the night. I’m not a psychologist, so you can’t come to me with this stuff all the time, but I’m willing to help you as much as you’ve helped me if need be.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you next time.” He said as he stood up.

“See you.” Takemi smiled her usual sly smile as she stood up and went back behind the front desk.

Akira walked back into Leblanc and locked the door behind him. He had a feeling everyone had left in his absence. He walked up the stairs to see Futaba asleep on his bed. He wasn’t even gone that long. How she managed to just pass out the way she did was almost a super power.

“I take it you’ve calmed down.” He heard Morgana say.

“Yeah. Talked to Tae and she helped a bit. Actually hugged me. It was odd but comforting.”

“I don’t think your girlfriend would like to hear that.”

“… One of you mentioned it to the girls didn’t you?” Akira asked, knowing Morgana wouldn’t risk Futaba hearing unless she was somehow aware of it.

“It was Ryuji!” Morgana yelped.

“God dammit, they’re going to pester me for days trying to figure out who it is.” Akira rubbed his head.

“Speaking of, do you think everything will be okay with you and everyone else?”

Akira took a second to think about that. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling for his friends right now. He was upset with them for invading his privacy the way they had, but… he felt a bit lighter having it in the open.

“I think so. I think I’ll up our training as punishment for invading my privacy,” Morgana groaned, “but I think we can get back to normal soon.”

“That’s good to hear. Now where are you going to sleep?”

Akira eyed Futaba and his bed tiredly.

“Eh, fuck it.” He shrugged, moving Futaba over and lying in his bed. Not like he really used the cover often anyway.

He drifted off surprisingly peacefully considering the night he’d had.


End file.
